"Dear Folks," George Romney wrote on the letterhead of the Automobile Manufacturers Association where he served as general manager. "Well, by now most of you have had the really big news, those who haven't, Willard Mitt Romney arrived at Ten AM March 12.... We consider him our... miracle baby."
Nearly sixty years later, Mitt Romney is the best-positioned Republican presidential nominee for 2012.
But the former Massachusetts governor has always been elusive, difficult to pin down -- a turnaround artist. Who is he behind that sweep of dark hair and distinguished white sideburns, that high-wattage smile that seems clipped from a tooth-whitener ad? Is he a fierce politician and business maverick? Or a loyal family man and devout Mormon?
Finally, readers will find answers in THE REAL ROMNEY, the definitive biography written by investigative Boston Globe reporters Michael Kranish and Scott Helman. The book explores Romney's personal life, his relationship with his wife, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, and his difficult missionary time in France, where a fatal car crash had a profound effect on his path. It will also cover Mitt's privileged upbringing in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and his close relationship with his father.
Based on years of reporting and hundreds of interviews, THE REAL ROMNEY analyses Romney's tenure at Bain Capital, one of the world's leading private investment firms, where staggering profits obscured leveraged buy-outs, cost-cuts, and thousands of lost jobs. The probing biography will also examine Romney's race against Senator Ted Kennedy, his real role in the 2002 Olympics, his Massachusetts governorship, and why his 2008 run for president was a failure.
In THE REAL ROMNEY, Kranish and Helman delve deep into the psyche of a complex man now at his most critical juncture. Romney is a man who will do anything to win -- in politics and business. In politics, he will switch images, change sides, even rewrite history as he did with the championing of the Massachusetts health care law. In business, he is willing to decimate companies and people's livelihood for the sake of profit. THE REAL ROMNEY will merge that side with the Romney who is a devout Mormon, husband of forty years, and loving son of a father who did not fully understand him. Readers will gain a solid understanding of the kind of campaign Romney will run in 2012 -- and the kind of man who may be running the United States.
